With deficits looming in a tough economy, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra is changing its tune this summer. At the Meyerson Symphony Center, there's not a classical concert in sight.
Gone are the Casual Classics series and the free Latino and African-American concerts. With donations from corporations and foundations down, the DSO is looking to gin up revenue with a busy lineup of pops programs.
On Thursday, it's "A Summer Evening With the DSO," with pop-rock singer-songwriter Richard Marx. On Friday and Saturday, it's "Video Games Live."
Whoopi Goldberg is booked for "A Night of Comedy," and other offerings include "Planet Earth Live," "ABBA: The Music" and veteran country singers Ray Price and Roy Clark.
Several forces prompted the change of focus, says DSO president and CEO Doug Adams.
One was simply the need to make more money, through advance ticket sales, at the end of the fiscal year. The year closed May 31, but contributions toward the 2009-10 year were being accepted up until 9 p.m. Monday. Adams says final figures won't be available for a couple of weeks.
"Quite honestly, business is very, very challenging," Adams says. "We've done well with ticket sales, but contributed income is still tough."
Another factor: The DSO is contracted to pay its musicians for a certain number of services - performances and rehearsals - each year. It needs as many concerts as possible that make money, rather than rehearsals that don't.
The DSO is using a few of these services as rehearsals for the orchestra's July residency at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in Colorado. So it needed some paying services to balance them.
In past years, the popular Casual Classics concerts were warm-ups for Vail. This year, the DSO's Vail programming is recycling music performed here.
"We're doing Beethoven Nine in Vail," Adams says. "We had done that recently. And we played Beethoven Five not too long ago. The idea of putting on those programs for public play here didn't make sense."
Yet another factor was the availability of a number of popular artists on tour during June and early July.
"It's a really interesting mix of people," Adams says. "Idina Menzel has a following that's unbelievable - she starred in Wicked and Rent. We announced that she would be here, and tickets started flying. We had this opportunity with Planet Earth, which has been here before. This will be the world premiere of that program."
One program originally announced for June 18, featuring baritone Jubilant Sykes, has been canceled because of slow ticket sales.
Arts organizations have been badly bruised by the economic slowdown. The situation is especially frustrating for the DSO, which has been prospering artistically and gaining international attention under music director Jaap van Zweden.
The recession prompted cancellation of a European tour this summer. The DSO now hopes to return to Europe in 2012. On tap at Dallas Symphony
•7:30 p.m. Thursday: A Summer Evening with the DSO, special guest Richard Marx
•7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday: Video Games Live
•8 p.m. June 17: Idina Menzel with the DSO
•8 p.m. June 19: Whoopi Goldberg: A Night of Comedy
•7:30 p.m. June 25, 26: Planet Earth Live with the DSO (world premiere)
•8 p.m. June 29: ABBA: The Music
•8 p.m. July 2: Country Legends with Ray Price and Roy Clark
•8 p.m. July 8: Smokey Robinson
$30 to $150. 214-692-0203. www.dallassymphony.com